The present invention relates to a reading system and process for printing and reading texts, and especially to a system using scan bars, scan words and scan indicators.
There are a wide variety of techniques used for teaching speed reading and to enable readers to speed up the reading to cover more material in less time while enhancing the retention of the material read. The closest prior art to the present invention are those techniques particularly directed to guiding the movement of the readers eye from one line or line group of printed material, or the like, to the next succeeding line or line group. It has also been suggested that proper technique for studying includes underlining text material, or reading in phrases rather than by individual words so that articles and certain types of words can be ignored. Thus, the format of the reading, such as a page or column, needs to have relatively short lines and relatively wide spaces from each other to avoid the difficulty of skipping material.
The present invention is directed towards a printing technique in which books, pamphlets, papers or flyers can be produced for the rapid reading in which a variety of techniques are integrated into a single reading columns located on each page. These techniques enhance the ability of the individual to rapidly scan and comprehend the material by keeping the reader's eye aligned with the scan bar while selecting words to be scanned which are printed in a bold or different colored type and having scanned line indicator marks for directing the eye towards the scanned material. Experimentations have shown that anyone with minimal practice can substantially increase their speed of reading and material covered using the present system.
Prior art U.S. Patents which utilize techniques for scanning, reading or using a phonic alphabet may be seen in the Shapiro U.S. Pat. No. 3,611,593, for a line-group sequential reading aid, in which selected lines have a visible symbol adjacent thereto. This system aids the eye of the reader in following the sequence of lines to be read by providing marginal indicia at the start of each line or line group to guide the reader's eye to the start of the next succeeding line group to be read and to tie in the starting indicia with like indicia at the end of the proceeding line group. U.S. Pat. No. 3,426,451 to Hoffman, shows a phonic alphabet in which a font of alphabetical letters is used for teaching spelling and reading. The U.S. Patent to Sheffield, U.S. Pat. No. 1,456,834, shows an art of printing, which uses a variety of type fonts and styles, all intermixed within each paragraph so that each group of elements are separated throughout the printed material. In U.S. Pat. No. 875.756 to Warren, a stenoprapher's note book is shown with vertical and horizontal lines.